African Cup of Nations Round-up

The competition started with tragedy as the Togolese team traveling from the Republic of Congo was attacked by gunmen, leaving a couple of players injured and three members from the delegation dead. There were a lot of questions asked, including why the Angolan host were not informed before the Togolese team started the bus trip. Togo ended up pulling out of the competition, which was understandable considering the shock that some of the individuals involved must have gone through.

The Group stages started with what turned out to be an exciting encounter between host nation Angola and Mali in group A. Down 4 goals to nil, the Malian team used the last quarter hour of the game to make their comeback and tied the game at 4-4 just after regular time. The was another surprise game from this group A where World cup bound Algeria were shocked 3-0 by Malawi. Angola next beat Malawi by 2-0 and tied Algeria in a controversial last match that both team just needed a draw to advance.Algeria made a nice come back in their next match beating Mali 1-0 and finished the group as runners-up to Angola. Mali was the disappointment in this group with a star packed line-up that saw them fail to rise to the occasion against Algeria in their second outing.They ended up beating Malawi 3-1 in their last match but headed home third in their group just ahead of Malawi. Final group standings Angola-7points,Algeria-4points,Mali-4points and Malawi-3points.Algeria advanced over Mali because of their head to head victory over the Malian team.

In Group B, the first encounter saw a dull encounter between tournament favorite Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso that ended in a goalless tie.Ghana had to sit out the first day in this group play because the Togolese delegation had pulled out of the competition. The Ivory Coast team bunched back well in match day two, beating Ghana by 3goals to one to become the first team to qualify for the quarter finals. The had to wait for Ghana to beat Burkina Faso by 1-0 to know that they qualify as head of the group. The team from Ghana,though missing quite a few of their star players including Micheal Essien still made it through as second of this group. Standings. Ivory Coast-4points, Ghana-3points and Burkina Faso-1 point.

In Group C, the Egyptians came in as back to back champions and somehow did not get a much press as the Ivorian national team as one of the super-favorites. Their opening match was against the Super Eagles of Nigeria and after a three to one victory over the Super-Eagles, you just knew that the Egyptians run in the past three African cup of nations is far from over. Boy, did they look good taking down the super-eagles. They would go on to beat Benin and Mozambique by a like 2goals to nil score to finish as head of this group and they were the second team to qualify for the quarter finals. The super-eagles bound back beating Benin one goal to nil and Mozambique by three goals to nil to book their place in the quarterfinals as runners-up to Egypt.The final standings on this group were Egypt-9points, Nigeria-6points-Benin-1 point and Mozambique-1 point.

Group D turned out to be the most wide opened of the groups. A couple of thriller encounters took place here, including a three to two Cameroon victory over Zambia and a 2-2 tie between Tunisia and Cameroon.The final standings on this group were Zambia-4points,Cameroon-4points,Gabon-4poinnts,Tunisia-three points. As you can see the first three teams ended up with 4points each. Zambia and Cameroon both scored and conceded five goals each. Gabon scored 2 goals and conceded 2 goals and ended up third in the group because of scoring fewer goals.
The big controversy though was who ends up as head of this group between Cameroon and Zambia. Immediately after the encounter the stations carrying the game announced that Cameroon is head of group and would play Nigeria in their quarter-finals clash. Zambia as runners-up would then get to play against Egypt. About two hours later though news started filtering that Zambia is the head of group and not Cameroon as earlier announced. The reason for the change did not become clear until the next day and this is how the error came about. According to Fifa regulations, Cameroon would have been head of group because with similar goals statistics, they beat Zambia in head to head play. It turned out though that CAF, the confederations of African football has their own rules in this situation and only the goals scored between the three teams involved in the tie are considered. So you through out the two goals that Cameroon scored against Tunisia and Zambia's lone goal against Tunisia and you get Zambia with 4goals to Cameroons 3.Zambia thus went through as head of group and Cameroon as runners-up.Cameroon would then take on Egypt in the quarterfinals, while Zambia would play against the Super-Eagles of Nigeria.

The Quarterfinals of the competition kicked off with Angola playing against a very young Ghana side. The final score was one goal to nil in a match that I would say was okay.

The next quarterfinals was between world cup bound Ivory Coast and Algeria. Ivory Coast was the super-favorite to life the trophy and Algeria had a not so convincing first round of play. The match was a thriller though that ended at 2-2 a piece after 90 minutes of regulation play. Ivory Coast scored what everybody thought was the winning goal with a minute left in regulation only to watch a resilient Algerian team pull even in added-time when the celebrations had started in the Ivorian camp. Extra time saw a fresh looking Algeria side scoring in the first part of extra time to win the game by 3-2. Disappointment for the Ivory Coast team. oh yes, with all their star players, this is the third African Cup of Nations that they have failed to win , coming in as one of the favorite teams. If you ask me I would say this talented set of Elephants from the Ivory Coast are running out of time to pick up a nations cup victory. The team from Algeria though is beginning to leave their mark. A lot of people were wondering whether their victory over Egypt to qualify for the world cup in South Africa was for real. After this encounter, the was no more doubting the desert fox from the north of Africa. They are back as a force in African football.

The next quarterfinals saw Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1 in extra time to advance and the super-eagles needing penalty shootout to beat Zambia 5-4 after a goalless 120 minutes. Cameroon put up a good fight against Egypt, but the Lions are still a team in transition. The Semi-finals were thus set. Egypt-Algerian and Ghana-Nigeria. It looks like the football powers of the continent are now found in West and North Africa.

The first semi-finals of the competition saw the black stars of Ghana beat the super-eagles of Nigeria by one goal to nil. The Ghana team got their goal in around the 21 minute of play through veteran forward A.Gyan and spend the rest of the game defending the lone goal. Once again the super-eagles failed to live up to expectation. The game itself was exciting, but nothing close to what you got in the next semi-finals.
This second semi-finals had the Egyptians beat Algeria but 4 goals to nil. The Algerians totally unravel in this game.The first goal from Egypt came in the first half of play through a penalty kick that was controversially transformed. The complain is that Egyptian mid-fielder Hosny totally came to a stop before proceeding to transform the penalty kick. In the second half thought, the Egyptians totally took control of the match, scoring a second goal through forward player Mohammed Zidane and adding two more goals, one coming in additional time to complete the rout. I would say that in this game we saw a completely different Algerian team. Maybe because they were playing against fierce rival Egypt, they came completely apart, reduced to 8 men on the field before the end of the game. There was a lot of complaining after the game for the officiating which I thought was stiff but right on the money. The Algerians of cause did most of the complaining, from their head coach all the way down to the players.

The small final of the game is usually the play for who ends up in the third and fourth position in the classifications. The game is usually a tough one for the teams because of the fact that they are coming off disappointing loses in the semi-finals of the competition. The Super-Eagles won by a goal to nil in a match that was not bad at all for a third place game. There was good sportsmanship from both of the teams and for the day, I think that the better team won.

The finals started at 5pm local time here in Cameroon, were I was for the day and going into it, most people said that the Egyptians are going to carrying the day. The case for the Egyptians was not a very tough one considering the fact that they had so far in the competition conceded just 1 goal while scoring 11 goals. The Ghana team on the order hand is a relatively young team with most of their star players missing because of injury. In the competition, they have conceded 3 goals so far before the finals while scoring 4 goals in total.

The final game itself was exciting with the team from Ghana having a little bit of an edge in terms of ball possession.The Egyptians ended up winning by a 1 goal to 0 and they scored their goal in the only clear scoring chance that they had in the game.A.Gyan has carried the Ghana team throughout the competition and he had a clear scoring chance in the game in around the 75 minute of play and hit the ball over the cross bar. Gedo had the only clear chance for the Egyptians in the 84th minute of play and buried the ball in the back of the net to give his team the third African cup of nations trophy in three years running.
That has been the difference between the Egyptian team and the rest of the teams in this African cup of Nations. They, the Egyptians have not wasted many scoring chances and it seems as if each time that they had a scoring opportunity in their games, they have gone ahead and scored. They thus become the first team to win three African cup of nations in a row,making it their 7th championship in the African continental competition.

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African Cup of Nations 2010

Group A
The host nation is Angola and they are grouped with the Republic of Mali,Algeria and Malawi. I like Angola as the host nation and Algeria to come out of the group. Angola has a couple of talented players up front that should see them through into the knock out stages of the competition.
Algeria is making a comeback into a major competition after being involved in a lot of internal conflict that saw the country drift into a civil war. They had their heydays in the early eighties, when they won this competition and qualified for the 1982 world cup in Spain. They took everybody by surprise in edging
out Egypt in the combined 2010 World cup-African cup of nations qualifiers. In case you missed it they had to play a third game, a tie-breaker against their north African foe in Sudan which they won by one goal to nil. The diplomatic relationship between the two countries went downhill after the game. Having being out of the big stage for a long time, the cup of nations would be a place for the team to show the rest of the continent if they are really good.

Group B has tournament favorites Ivory Coast, Ghana, then Togo and Burkina Faso. Ivory Coast has the most talented team in the continent and they top the list of favorites to win it all. That said, they have a habit of falling just short of the trophy and it would not come as a surprise if they end up losing in the finals or semi-finals of the competition.Runners up in the competition in 2006, that host nation
Egypt won, they started out great in the 2008 campaign in Ghana, but just flat out disappeared against Egypt in the semi-finals. They bring back just about all of their players from the 2008 competition and they should be looking at winning it all this time around.
Ghana is four times African champions and they also qualified for their second world cup campaign in a row.Their most recent continental trophy though last came in
1982, so it has been a long time since they won the competition. They had a great chance to win the last one that they hosted but fall short to Cameroon in the semi-finals. They should come out of the group stages though I do not see them going pass the semi-finals.

Group C has Egypt, Nigeria,Benin and Mozambique. Egypt and Nigeria should get out of the group stages in group C. Egypt are coming out of a disappointment on losing out to Algeria in the world cup qualifiers.They have won the last two trophies of this competition though and they adapt very well in playing throughout the continent, having won away in Burkina Faso in 1998 and in Ghana in 2008. Winning a third African Cup of nations in a row would be asking a little bit too much from them, especially with the fact that they have a couple of key injuries.
Nigeria did not have any problems qualifying for the Cup of Nations.Their problem was in qualifying for the World cup, which they did with some help from Tunisia. The country with the most talent over the years in the continent, they have two trophies to show for it. The team is deep, but judging on their current form,semi-finals is where I see them maxing out.

Group D has Tunisia,Cameroon, Gabon and Zambia.
Gabon started out their world cup qualifiers in style by beating out Morocco in Rabat and Togo in their home soil and a
lot of people though they would qualify ahead of the Republic of Cameroon. They never
did though and Cameroon ended up picking up the qualifying ticket ahead of them.Their coach is looking for some revenge against Cameroon in this group, though I do not see them going much. Cameroon and Tunisia should get out of the group.
Tunisia won the trophy in 2004 when they hosted and they have themselves to blame for losing out to Nigeria in the world cup qualifiers. They would be looking to make amends in the competition, though apart from Egypt, the countries from North Africa do not have a history of winning this competition out of their home soil. I see them making it to the quarterfinals stage of the competition.
Cameroon started out slow in their world cup qualifiers and they had to make some changes in the middle of the qualifying campaign to get themselves going. They brought in French man Paul Le Guen who worked some miracles and the team did not miss out on a second world cup. This is the African cup of nations thought and Cameroon has a very good record in the competition, having won four times and being runners-up twice. The team has some talent up front, plays good defense. They have a good goalkeeper, though not in the tradition of some great ones that they have hard in the past. In the years that the team has won this competition , they have had great talent in defense, midfield, and attack. Creativity in the midfield is missing in this team and the defense goes into lapse at times that cost them goals.It would not come as a surprise if they win the competition,but I do not feel going in that they have the current form and confidence to win their fifth trophy.Semi-finals or finals would not be out of the question.

So for the semi-finals, I am looking at Ivory Coast, Angola, Cameroon and Nigeria. And for the champions, my money is on Ivory Coast.